Awesome Windows 8, 10 Astronomy App SkyORB gets Even Better

Windows 8 astronomy apps are really cool for those passionate about anything related to space, planets and anything astronomy-related. SkyORB is an awesome Windows 8 astronomy app that has recently been updated with even more features. If you have been following Wind8Apps, then you probably know that in the past we have featured some other cool Windows 8 astronomy apps, such as Star Chart for Windows 8, SkyMap, and Lunar Phases. SkyORB is another interesting astronomy app that has recently received some new features in the Windows Store. The app comes with a 3D star map, 3D planetarium, ephemeris with notifications, search engine, sun clock, point to sky, weather, and many other features.

Explore the Universe from your Windows 8 tablet

SkyORB features many functions as a 3D real-time representation of the planets position around the sun, warn the user when a phenomenon is occurs as a full moon, a planet really visible, which is worth the observation. The app also features an interactive 3D visualization of the stellar neighbourhood, including over 100000 nearby stars, and 3D visualization of the Milky Way.

The app is available as a free download (follow the link at the end), but to be able to enjoy all its features, you can choose to upgrade to the premium version which costs $3.49. SkyORB is updated with comets and satellites positions, and even with weather forecast for the location that you have chosen to share with it so it can aggregate relevant data. For those who don’t know, an ephemeris

gives the positions of naturally occurring astronomical objects as well as artificial satellites in the sky at a given time or times

and the ephemeris included with this app comes with the next 60 days astronomy events, as well as the peak day of meteors showers, date of planet elongation and opposition. The app has full Windows 8.1 support, so you can use any live tile size you want, and it will get updated with relevant information. The app comes with plenty other features:

Simulate the sky from any place in the world and even from other planet like Mars

Move fast forward and backward in time

Besides the above mentioned features, the app has been enhanced for Direct3D 11 and it also comes with Windows 8 integration with Charm bar search and notifications. As for the latest update that it has received, the developer has improved the local view rendering, navigation on touch, rendering of the horizon, the night and day worldmap display, and the ability to show sub-lunar and sub-solar points has been added. Also, planets culmination charts in world map view option is now available. The app is now also faster and more stable on Windows RT devices and Windows 8 tablets.